2 Corinthians 12:1–6:
“It is necessary to go on boasting, though it is not profitable. I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. I know a man in Christ, who fourteen years ago—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—was caught up to the third heaven. And I know that this man, whether in the body or apart from the body, I do not know, God knows, was caught up into paradise and heard things too sacred to be put into words, things that a person is not permitted to speak. On behalf of such an individual, I will boast. But on my own behalf, I will not boast, except about my weaknesses. For even if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, for I will be telling the truth. But I refrain from this so that no one may regard me beyond what he sees in me or what he hears from me.”
Yesterday, I explored verse 2, where Paul wrote, “I know a man in Christ” who had this exotic spiritual experience. He said, “I don’t know if it’s in the body,” and he was talking about it under “visions and revelations,” and said he was caught up to the third heaven. He said, “a man in Christ.” I want to draw our attention—before I go on to today’s lesson focused on verse 3—to the fact that that man was in Christ. And I want to say that, look, somebody who is not in Christ may still have “visions and revelations.” That is the truth. There may be spiritual experiences. The devil can also help his people to have visions and revelations. That is the truth.
We are told that even Satan masquerades as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). I just wanted to draw your attention to that before going to verse 3, where he says, “And I know that this man, whether in the body or apart from the body, I do not know, God knows.”
So he is repeating, in this verse, his limited knowledge.
Look at Paul here: he who had powerful revelations from God—but again, God is not under any obligation to reveal anything to anyone at any time. And we need to be careful about what we are saying we are supposedly seeing. We need to just be careful on that.
So he said, “I know that this man, whether in the body or apart from the body, I do not know, God knows.” So God knows things that we do not know. God knows why.
What we are told in Romans 8 is that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:38–39). So we are being focused on love—how God has loved us, and how we should love God also, and how we should live a life that pleases God. That should be our priority. That is the truth. That should be our priority.
People want to bring out their CV, their “spiritual CV,” and say, “I’ve seen this one, I’ve seen that one.” But look at how Paul frames it. He calls it boasting. That is how he is framing it. You may frame it differently: “I’m trying to help people”; “I’m just telling people the facts.” But Paul is framing it as boasting.
When you look at another passage written by Paul, he said that because of the abundance of revelations, “a messenger of Satan” was given to him so that he would not be puffed up (2 Corinthians 12:7). So he is saying that, “I’ve seen, I’ve seen, I’ve seen”—going on and on like that—that is boasting, and he is saying it is not profitable.
It can enter into your head. That is the point. And God knows it can enter into your head. God knew it could enter into Paul’s head. So God decided to do something about it and allowed a messenger of Satan to harass him so that he would not be puffed up, not be elevated in his own eyes.
And we are talking about Paul here. So this is still saying: this is Paul, and he is still human.
Just as James wrote that Elijah “was a man with a nature like ours” (James 5:17). Elijah is “a man like us,” but he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain; and he prayed again, and it rained (James 5:17–18).
The point I am making is that we see some things in Paul here. Even though he is elevated in our minds, even though he has a place of prestige in our hearts and minds, we still see he is not God. He is still not perfect. And he makes it plain in his words here, and he is calling what he is doing here “boasting.”
Remember, I am on verse 3, which says, “And I know that this man, whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows.”
That means when it comes to the dimension of God, there is nothing hidden before Him. But there are some things that are hidden from you. Don’t try to investigate too much.
Focus on loving God and loving your neighbor (Matthew 22:37–39), and anything that contravenes that we must reject.
God bless you. See you later.